Around 117 Tibetans remain in detention, with at least one being denied medical treatment
Many detainees subjected to torture and political re-education have expressed concerns about Mandarin Chinese education
Dza Wonpo Township
Tibetan detainees in Dza Wonpo in Kham, eastern Tibet are being forced to undergo political re-education and there are reports of torture, our sources confirmed. Calls for medical care have also been rejected for one of the female detainees.
Over the past three weeks, at least 117 Tibetans have been detained in Dza Wonpo Township, which is located in Sershul County, Kardze, in the Tibetan province of Kham. Of those arrested, only four of them have been released so far.
Local sources have revealed that those remaining in detention are being forced to undergo political re-education training on a daily basis. They are given low-quality food and no warm clothing is being provided. Those who were suspected of leaking information to Tibetans in exile have reportedly been subjected to repeated interrogation and torture. Their mobile and social media accounts are also being scrutinised for possible communication with Tibetans in exile.
According to the source, Kardon, one of the women who were arrested on 3 September, had requested immediate medical attention for a sudden illness. The Sershul County hospital authority, in coordination with local security officials, has refused to register her medical complaint. Local authorities are preventing Kardon from visiting another hospital and without the medical registration form she cannot receive treatment for her illness.
Currently, Dza Wonpo Village is under military lockdown with security forces continuing to conduct search operations. They are looking for people who have contact with Tibetans living in exile and those suspected of being loyal to the 14th Dalai Lama, who remains in India having escaped Tibet in 1959. Many of those in detention were reportedly arrested after they expressed concerns about the implementation of Mandarin Chinese education in schools. The Ministry of Education issued a notice on 21 July 2021, clarifying that from September 2021 onwards, kindergartens in all ethnic and rural areas will be taught in Mandarin Chinese.
They are also members of chat-groups that have been shut down by the local police authorities. Military and security personnel are investigating every household in the village to find those who have founded the WeChat groups and others who participated in it. The investigation continues after giving a firm warning that a thorough investigation on the online activity would follow.
Chat-groups promoting preservation of language and religion targetted
Amongst many chatgroups, three main chat-groups are currently targetted by authorities and used by those detained are ‘Association for preservation of mother tongue’ (Tib:ཕ་སྐད་སྲུང་སྐྱོབ་ཚོགས་པ།), ‘Association of volunteer service for spoken and written Tibetan language’ (Tib: བོད་སྐད་ཡིག་ཞབས་ཞུ་ཚོགས་པ།) and ‘Association for a thousand mantra recitation’ (Tib:མ་ནི་སྟོང་སྒྲུབ་ཚོགས་པ།), confirmed our source. Individuals spearheading these groups are learned peoples and teachers of Dza Wonpo. While these associations do not run any physical establishment to promote Tibetan language and Buddhism, the volunteer members, depending on their availability, informally organise Tibetan language classes on grammar and composition in tents and homes during two to three months in winter.
The current crackdown in Dza Wonpo builds on military and police operations in November 2019, following the arrest of six young Tibetans for calling for Tibet’s independence at a time when Chinese officials were touring the area. One of the six, Tenzin Nyima, was later rearrested and died in hospital in January 2021 due to injuries sustained in prison. Authorities in Dza Wonpo have subsequently tried to repress attempts by residents from maintaining connection with Tibetans in exile and sending any information.
Some of the detainees identified so far are Sonam, Losang Choezin, Pando and Palyab, Tsangpa, Choelhamo, Kardon, Loden Chunglam, Tenzin Losel, Loshir, Choechok, Gaden, Sherab, Jamphel, Dalo, Cholpa, Sonam Galek and Tamding Norbu.